Middletown YMCA opens old school for kids

Friday

May 3, 2013 at 2:00 AMMay 3, 2013 at 8:45 AM

MIDDLETOWN — Kids, workers, volunteers and board members from the YMCA, local officials, school alumni and others came to the former Liberty Street School Thursday afternoon, to commemorate the start of the building's new life as a center for the Y's programs for younger children.

BY NATHAN BROWN

MIDDLETOWN — Kids, workers, volunteers and board members from the YMCA, local officials, school alumni and others came to the former Liberty Street School Thursday afternoon, to commemorate the start of the building's new life as a center for the Y's programs for younger children.

Waiting for the ribbon-cutting to start, kids in purple YMCA shirts played in the refurbished gym, where they will soon be taking part in the Y's athletic programs. In the adjoining room, volunteers and workers and some older people who came here when it was an elementary school signed a wall hanging commemorating the day.

The city bought the building in 1998, after the school district closed it. Orange-Ulster BOCES leased it and ran programs there until 2011, when they were moved to the former Arden Hill hospital in Goshen.

All of the Y's Middletown programs are now at its Highland Avenue building, but space is short there, said Ira Besdansky, CEO of the Y. He said he remembers what he thought when he first looked at the old school about a year-and-a-half ago: "We are bursting at the seams literally 150 yards from here, and we need a place that is dedicated to serving youth."

The Y bought the building for $500,000 in February and refurbished it, with staff and volunteers doing much of the work. It is going to start moving some programs there this month, said Greg Hogan, president of the board of directors. The Y's summer camp will be held at Liberty Street this year, and the universal pre-kindergarten and pre-school programs will start in the fall. It plans to expand children's programs at Liberty, while keeping the programs for older people on Highland.

"This will be the pre-eminent youth center in all of Orange County," Besdansky said.

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